A/N:
First thanks to Pyocola Analogue III for beta this story.
Second thanks to all of the reviews and Naruto's latest chapters that I actually sat my ass before the computer and started writing. Thanks to the promising to have a Naruto vs Sasuke fight soon in the manga that I have begun to write the ending.
As far as the story goes, this chapter, the resolution chapter, and the ending chapter. So two more chapters and this story will have 15 chapters as originally intended.
'Kill them now, and dig your own way to hell, Naruto. DO IT NOW, damn it!'
Naruto looked at Hinata one last time and then he realized it. He realized what love really was. If he had another chance, he would treasure her even more; would spend hours just to look at her, would do nothing but gaze into her beautiful eyes, would cook for her every day, would spend time with her all day. He would do everything just to earn a smile of hers at him. He would do everything just to make her happy. Too late now. Everything was an illusion. But his love for her was not, and that was what was important.
"I do not want to see you, ever again."
With that he turned his back and left.
'Why? Why don't you kill them, Naruto? They betrayed you, they lied to you, they took advantage of you; so why don't you just kill them?'
Sasuke covered his head with his hands. 'Stupid Naruto. Why didn't he do as expected? Why doesn't he hate them and kill them?'
Sasuke inhaled deeply and tried to keep his calm. He had to be calm now. He had underestimated Naruto. He should have guessed that bastard would never do something like that, but what irritated him the most was Naruto's chakra. There was times when it was full of anger but never hate, and now it became calmer... and sadder but not hateful. There was not a slight sign of hate in his chakra. It was still as calm and as bright as ever.
'What? What should I do now to destroy you forever, Naruto?' There was an option. Sasuke smirked. If Naruto didn't kill them with his own hands, of course Sasuke could help him and then frame it to Naruto. Taking the two of them at the same time could be a little hard with his condition, but he could take out Hinata alone no problem, then turn the table on his side, making the Hyuuga clan an enemy of Naruto. He could even start a civil war this way. That was a perfect plan. But... but something missing here. He forgot something; something important.
The sun was so bright. The brighter the sun was, the more lively everything under it, but it was also because of everything under it longing for its light that the sun was brighter and brighter. The sun had supports everywhere. Everyone loved the sun. Everyone trusted the sun. They would do anything and everything to make the sun happy.
No, even if he could start a civil war and destroy half of the village, the sun would continue to shine. The sun would fix it all. The sun would bring them together again. And himself, if the sun knew he was the one who killed his beloved, the sun would kill him this time for sure. He was not afraid of death, but he didn't want to die like that. In vain, pointlessly, and by the sun's hand. No. He was so weak. Weak creatures could not do anything.
Sasuke's put one hand over his eye. His eyes, his Sharingan, his pride; the only remnant of the Uchiha clan was taken away by Naruto. The seal Naruto put on his eyes was so strong that even after two years, Sasuke was still unable to activate his Sharingan again. Maybe he wouldn't be able to activate it for the rest of his life if he continued to live in the village. If he continued to live in the village... He had to get out of this hell first, find a way to fix his eyes later, and then when he could have his Enternal Mangekou Sharingan returned. Once he regained his power and gathered enough supports, he would come back again. This time when he had equal power and supports as Naruto, he would crush him and his detestable village once and for all. That was right; any plan now would be in vain if he didn't have enough power. He had to be patient. He had to go seeking for more power. But how to get out of the village while Naruto and his friends always kept a close eye on him? How could he distract them long enough for his escape? He smirked.
XxXxXxXx
Sakura picked up the last herb she just gathered and put it in the basket. That was enough for now. She would make some energy pills for Naruto. She smiled. That baka always worked too hard. She sighed. Did he eat well? Did he eat more vegetables? Did he have enough nutrition? She really wanted to take care of him, but now... he had his wife... He wouldn't need her anymore. Sakura wiped her unborn tears away. That was right. She need not to worry about that baka anymore. She should spend more time trying to find a boyfriend; one that was much, much better than Naruto. Tears welled in her eyes again. Would there be any one that was better than Naruto? Even if there was, she wouldn't want any of them.
"Feeling so sad that your prince is now owned by another woman, huh?"
Sakura turned around to face Sasuke. Sakura tightened her grips. She had a bad feeling; whatever he was up to was no good. She would never bring herself to truly trust this man although he was one of her best friends, her childhood crush, the one she used to love and admire. She asked him rudely,
"What do you want, Sasuke?"
"I just want to tell you some good news. You still have a chance to score with Naruto."
She grabbed Sasuke's shirt and pushed him against a tree,
"Shut your crap up and get the hell out of here. Don't you dare start anything against Naruto!"
Sasuke raised his hands up to both sides, "Calm down. I am not the one who hurt Naruto but his wife."
"Hinata?" Sakura asked in surprise. How could Hinata do something to hurt Naruto? It was unthinkable. She tightened her grip and pushed Sasuke further back into the tree. "Do not lie. I know you are up to no good. I would not believe any of your crap."
"Shouldn't you?" Suddenly Sasuke pushed Sakura away and fixed his shirt. "Instead of staying there and questioning me, you should go and check on your prince a bit, make sure he would not jump down from a mountain or something like that."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that the sweet Hinata is actually in love with her cousin and the whole marriage thing is just a cover up so that they could be together."
Sakura punched hard into the tree just a few inches from Sasuke's face,
"Shut your crap up, or you will have the same fate with this tree..."
"Like I said, you should be hurrying. Naruto seems to love his wife a lot, don't blame me if he throws himself out of a mountain or something like that..."
'Naruto.' Sakura ran like crazy out of the forest; she was so worried about Naruto and did not notice the smirk formed on Sasuke's face as she rushed out of the forest.
XxXxXxXx
Naruto raised his hand and caught the falling leaves, feeling the way they slipped through his hand and fell to the ground. Now that he became calmer, he immediately regretted the way he treated Hinata and Neji. To say such cruel things to them, and...even to have the desire to hurt them. He wanted to protect them, protect the village, always, to see everyone smiling and laughing, and to smile and laugh with them. So why...? Why did they lie to him? Why did they play with his emotion?...
Why?...He clenched his shirt to kept his heart from aching and aching harder each time he thought back at the way Neji and Hinata were sitting together, kissing...So this was love. And it hurt. No wonder shinobies nowadays didn't love anymore. Ninja were supposed to be emotionless so that they could take on missions with 100 percent chance of success. Carry out emotion like love made them more vulnerable and distracted.
Naruto folded his hands behind his back and looked at the sky. Maybe he shouldn't have falled in love with her in the first place. It distracted him and made him more unstable than usual. A breeze softly brought the freshness into his face, and he smiled; but he had been very happy with her, with everyone, with the village and maybe that was what really important.
"So you finally realize it, huh, kid?"
Naruto looked at the Kyuubi, "You knew it all the time but you never told me?"
"You need to realize it yourselves, otherwise it has no meaning."
"I could have killed Neji and Hinata, and you would just look at it as it happens?'"
"When it comes to that point, you just have to be responsible to what you do."
Naruto scratched his head and grinned, "Let me lend your power a little bit, I want to confirm it."
Naruto borrowed the Kyuubi charka and turned into the Kyuubi mode, he inhaled deeply and began to send the Kyuubi chakra around the village and sensed the whole surrounding.
Warm. Happy. Refresh. Love. Trust. Loyalty. Not a single trace of hate, or darkness, or deceite. Everyone. Tears welled in his eyes. Sorry everyone, for doubting in you all. Sorry for not trusting you.
"So what will you do, Kid?"
"About what?"
"About the girl?"
Naruto looked at the village from the top, he sighed, "I don't know. I don't know about her feelings and I am not sure about mine. I..."
"Stay away from her. She is not healthy for you. When you are with her and in what they call love, you lose your cool and temper; you become easier to be manipulated and trapped. We are strong, very strong, but if your heart was disturbed and easily swayed, we cannot remain strong forever. She is our weakness as one of our enemies already tried to explore in. The closer she is to you, the more dangerous to us and her also, and even the village. Those who have great power are destined to be alone, do you know that?"
"Naruto. Naruto." Sakura yelled as she rushed to where he was. When she came close to him, she suddenly punched him hard and sent him several feet away, "Naruto, you baka!"
Tears fell like rain down her face, she sobbed, "Do you know how much I have worried for you?"
"Sakura-chan." Naruto got close to her, completely confused, "What?"
Suddenly Sakura hugged him and held him tight, "Naruto, Naruto..." She continued to sob uncontrollable. "I...I was so worried! I was afraid that you would throw yourself off of a mountain or something like that!"
Naruto laughed and looked at Sakura, "Why would I have to do something like that? Do I look like a suicidal type?"
Sakura tightened her hold and placed her head on his chest, "Baka. If you throw yourself off of a mountain, I will throw myself off of it too."
"Sakura-chan, you..."
"Naruto, I love you." With that Sakura grabbed Naruto's head and kissed him fully on his lips. Naruto was completely dumbfounded as the sudden turn of event. His body paralyzed, and he could not move a single muscle. His mind went blank at the shock. Even he had fantasized this since he was a little, the feeling now was not pleasant at all. This was wrong; definitely wrong. Although he knew nothing of marriage, certainly married men didn't just go out and kiss random women. But then, she was not a random person. She was special.
Naruto mentally shook his head. This was definitely wrong because he was in love with Hinata, and this time he knew for sure men that were in love did not just go out and kiss the girl that he was not in love. No... People in love did not go off and kiss any person other than the one they love. But... Hinata... She... She was going to kiss Neji... That must mean he was not the one she loved, never had. His heart clenched painfully again. The hurt was so great that he felt the sudden need to have someone by his side to get comfort from. He unconsciously grabbed Sakura's head closer and deepened the kiss.
As Sakura licked his lips lightly, asking for an entrance. Naruto was hesitant for a moment. This was wrong, definitely wrong, because no matter what Hinata did he was still in love with her and people in love did not just go off and kiss people that they were not in love with; whether the one they were in love with loved them back or not. This was even more wrong since he was using Sakura as a replacement of Hinata while Sakura was an important person to him too. But...Sakura tightened her hold when she felt no response from him; she clutched at his shirt and she trembled helplessly in his arms like she was afraid he would let go, that he would break off the kiss, and that if it happened she would be destroyed; be crumbled in pieces, broken in despair. Naruto never saw Sakura like this, and he did not like it one bit. He just wanted to do anything, anything, to make her feel better, to stop her from trembling like this, so he opened his mouth and let her in.
XxXxXxXx
He was just pitying her. Tears fell down her cheeks again. She knew it; she knew that she had no place in his heart now, but she could not stop it. He was a very kind person; to be that nice with such a terrible person as herself. She explored his mouth fully. Just this one time, even if it was out of pity, she wanted to be with him this one time.
XxXxXx
"Such a wonderful scene to see, right, Hinata?"
Sasuke smirked and looked at the girl next to him. Only one word; pathetic. Her body was shaking in shock and sadness. She intertwined her fingers together and bit her lower lip harshly, trying to contain her tears. Seeing weak creatures like this disgusted him to no end. He just wanted to stabbed her and end her pathetic life right here but he had to be patient; stabbing her right now only gave him temporary effects and his chance to escape was lower than if he did otherwise. Later he would kill her for sure. She was an important person to him. Therefore, she must die. And maybe he could... Sasuke licked his lips lightly... Maybe he could taste her sweet body before sending her to hell, but that had to wait; he still had a lot of time, after all. He would make sure to do everything in his power to make Naruto suffer, everything... but that had to wait.
"You are such a terrible person, you know, Hinata."
Hinata looked at Sasuke in dismay. He smirked and tilted her chin up, turning her face toward the couple, "Look, Hinata. Do you see that? Do you see how much they are in love with one another? How could you do something as terrible as to come in as a third person and break them up?"
Hinata clenched her fists, biting her lower lip harder, and tried gathering all of her energy to stop herself crying in front of him. That would only add to his amusement, and Hinata didn't want to satisfy the man in front of her with her miseries. She tried to turn her head away but Sasuke tightened his grip on her chin, not letting her do as she pleased.
Then he slowly turned her head to face his, forcing her to look into his eyes, "Hinata, you knew very well from the beginning that they love each other, didn't you? But you are so selfish, you want him all for yourself; that is why you said yes when your father asked you to marry him."
"N-no, t-that's n-not it." Hinata protested, trying her best to get out of his hold but everything was in vain.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..." Sasuke shook his head, "That was not good, Hinata; you should listen to your friend when he talks because he means you well. You should not escape reality any further. You are a bad person, you have to admit it. Right now, right here, you want to run over there and break them up, don't you? You want to slap Sakura and Naruto hard in their faces, don't you? But do you have the right to? You are the third person that came into their lives. You are not worthy of being his wife; the whole marriage was a set up from your father because he wanted to keep his face."
Hinata eyes widened bewilderingly,
"What do you mean? Otou-san..."
Sasuke laughed sarcastically, "Don't try to be so innocent, Hinata. That would only work for idiots like Naruto; like I would believe that you knew nothing behind your marriage."
"J-just r-recently, I-I k-knew that Otou-san was behind it for some reason, I-...I really didn't know anything before the wedding, I..."
"Stop lying to yourselves." Sasuke leaned closer and whiffed, "You are not a stupid woman; you have enough intelligent to know that Naruto would never ask you to marry him unless he was forced or tricked. But you still accepted the offer because you are a selfish person and you want to have him even though you know he is not in love with you. With that you have broken two people who are in love with one another; you have broken Naruto's true happiness."
Hinata forcefully jumped back, breaking out of Sasuke's control. She covered her ears and cried,
"That's not true! That's not true! Stop it! I don't want to hear another word!"
But Sasuke pinned her arms to the tree,
"Do you know why your father wanted the marriage? It is because he heard that one of his very, very distant relative had his daughter already married, so to keep his pride he had you married too. Just that; just to keep his face Naruto has to marry you, has to change his life to you, has to give up on his true love. And what does he get? A decorated marriage only; he could not even touch you because your father had deliberately lied to him, keeping him away from you. Poor Naruto, his future is doom with you; he would never have an heir for himself, and he has to live with the one he does not love for the rest of his life."
Hinata broke the hold and ran away, but no matter how fast she was, Sasuke was always right beside her, continued to torture her with merciless and cruel words,
"Yes, run, run. You should run away from Naruto. That way he can find his true happiness. Being with you only brings sadness and misfortune to him. Get away from him, forever, do never meet him again. Get away from here, no one wants you here. If you want Naruto to be happy then leave. Go to a faraway land where no one knows you, and never come back.
Sasuke stopped and smirked as Hinata's back faded faster and faster away from him.
'Yes. Run away. Run away from the sun. And I will run away, too, from the run."
XxXxXxXx
"Naruto, thank you."
Naruto looked at Sakura sadly, "Sakura...I..."
Sakura clasped her hands behind her back and smile: "I understand. You do not love me."
She spun around, not letting him see tears falling like rain down her cheek,
"I understand Naruto." She quickly wiped her tears way before turning to face him,
"You really make a fool out of me, don't you, Naruto?" She smiled again, "It's so embarrassing to be rejected by the same person twice."
"Sakura, I..." Naruto looked away,
Sakura hugged him again,
"Naruto, I love you. It is not a childish crush. I will love you, always, no matter whom you choose, no matter what happens. You will always have a special place in my heart. That's why I want you to be happy. I want you to be with the one you truly love. I know you love Hinata. I can sense it. Go find her. Go after her and find your true happiness because when you are happy, I am happy too."
Naruto let a single tear fall on his cheek,
"Sakura, thank you."
As he turned his back away and left, he said,
"You know what Sakura, I loved you, too. But before, when Sasuke came back, I thought that you would be happy with him, so I decided to give up on you. I asked Tsunade-Ba-chan to give me as many S-rank missions as possible so that I could leave the village constantly and forget about you, and give you the opportunities to be with Sasuke. I never knew that you... Sorry Sakura, but now I love Hinata."
With that he left.
A soft breeze blew the cherry flower off the tree and landed it right into Sakura's hands. She smiled while letting tears fall freely on her already dampened cheeks:
"Naruto, you're really a very kind person. Love is a mystery thing, isn't it? If the timing is wrong, if you take the wrong time to realize your feelings and feelings of the other, you could never catch love."
XxXxXxXx
"How many times do I have to go through this again?" Naruto looked at the guards furiously.
"Why the hell do I always have to spend hours in front of this house just to ask permission to meet my own wife?"
"Naruto-sama, we really don't know where Hinata-sama is. She has not come home since this morning."
Naruto pointed his finger toward them and cried out,
"You liar! I will not fall to your trap again! You just don't want me to meet her, do you?"
"Really, Naruto-sama, Hinata-sama is really not home."
"Naruto, I have bad news."
Naruto frowned as Neji came closer to him. He hadn't forgotten about what happened this morning yet, and he still felt anger boiling in his blood whenever he thought about Neji and Hinata,
"Shut up, you just want to keep me away from her, don't you?"
Naruto grabbed Neji's shirt, "You were with her this morning. You must know where she is now. I need to talk to her. Don't you dare to hide her from me."
"That's what I was just about to tell you. She hasn't come home since we parted after the training. When I went around and asked, the guards at the village gate said that she left the village several hours ago. When I asked the Hokage, she said she hadn't assigned any mission to Hinata. Usually when she needed to go somewhere she would let me know. It has been several hours and I still haven't heard anything from her. I think there must be something wrong."
"A lot of things are indeed wrong." Now, perfect, Sasuke decided to show his face just in time for the show and further spoiled anything. Naruto clenched his fists as Sasuke continued, "For example, today, at the forest near the village, I have seen Hinata crying her heart out. I cannot chase after, but then I have seen a very interesting scene." He looked at Naruto and smirked, "Naruto, I didn't know a baka like you could be such a playboy."
Naruto's heart stopped for a second. It could not be... He ran toward the Hokage's office and yelled back to Neji:
"Neji, gather all the Hyuuga and begin to search for Hinata immediately."
"Kid, let her go. She is not healthy for you. You might fall into another trap because of her. You'll lose your cool again. Give her up."
A/N: Cliche? I know, it's not like I'm out of ideas or anything like that it's just some of the scenes especially the kiss is needed for plot advancement and to resolve some of the characters' emotional conflicts. So now we have Neji and Sakura out of the place, next chapter heading for some real Naruhina's goodiness, can't wait to share, but need to send it to beta first. So probably next week.
I can't believe it, I almost finish this story, just need to write the ending which appears to be super long, but anyway.
